A year in the life of a Computer Science placement student

Being on placement at Code Wizards Limited for a year has changed my life… and for the better too!

That’s a bold statement, but is it true?

Yes, yes it is! At Code Wizards, I’ve done all sorts of projects, many of which involve researching into potential gaps in the market and exploiting them in the way that seems best. Before going off to work for Code Wizards, my consumer awareness and time-to-completion skills were essentially null (pardon the pun). Moving over from university where the coding you do has a pretty lenient deadline, working at Code Wizards has made me realise that each day you spend doing your work is money the company has invested in you.

This has made my whole way of thinking change from wanting to create the best code within a time limit, to knowing what code will fix the problem in as short amount of time as possible. In order to speed up the process, it requires previous coding knowledge to be put to the test, rather than constantly researching the best way of doing something.

So you’re quicker at coding. What else?

Being with Code Wizards feels like it’s opened the doors to many more opportunities for future work, as well as future friendships. One such opportunity has been the close involvement with GAME Digital, who host the massive gaming festival known as Insomnia. This gave me the opportunity to represent the company at the event, meeting the organisers and being able to network in an environment filled with people who could potentially have an impact on my future in this industry.

Insomnia i59 Gaming Festival

How would you sum up going on placement then?

Do it. Don’t even question it, just do it. Even if you have a different experience to me and find out the year you work isn’t the work you want to do, at least it’s valuable experience and you can cross that career path off. If you’re like me though, it’s done the opposite; it’s decided exactly what I want to do in life, and that is to work for a company like Code Wizards.